Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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October 19, 2008

Taliban Hijack Bus in Afghanistan, 30 People Killed
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Defense Ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi says the militants
hijacked the bus and its 50 passengers Thursday in the Maiwand district
of Kandahar province, a Taliban stronghold 
Afghan officials say Taliban militants have killed at least 30 people
who were traveling on a bus in southern Afghanistan. [ Defense Ministry
spokesman General Zahir Azimi says the militants hijacked the bus and
its 50 passengers Thursday in the Maiwand district of Kandahar province,
a Taliban stronghold. The spokesman says about 30 dead bodies have been
found, six of them beheaded. He says the other passengers were released.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack and said 27
Afghan soldiers had been killed. The Defense Ministry spokesman denied
that claim. The death toll has not been independently verified, because
of poor access to the region. Aid agencies say at least three-thousand
people have died in insurgency-related violence this year. The United
Nations says more than 14-hundred of those people were civilians.
International and Afghan forces have been fighting militants sympathetic
to the Taliban and al-Qaida for the past seven years.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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